W. Track Takes Third at PSU

Junior distance runner Pete Loy, senior thrower Erik Roneker and many members of the men’s track team didn’t make it to this weekend’s competition at the Penn State Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup in College Station. The Red had many of its top athletes stay in Ithaca this past weekend for a chance to rest and train, as well as nurse and rehab injuries. It showed –– with only one event win, the men took seventh in a field of 11 consisting of Auburn, West Virginia, Bucknell and others.
“We haven’t put our full team on the track all together at the same time yet,” said head coach Nathan Taylor. “But we’ll do that at the Heps, when it really counts … if we had made the commitment to run everybody at that meet, at Penn State, we probably would have been second and certainly no worse than third.”
The one event win came in the 5000-m, in which the Red swept the first four places. Senior Sage Canaday and sophomore Nate Edelman took first and second, respectively, while also posting personal bests. Senior Sam Luff and junior Dale Taylor took Nos. 3 and 4, and all of them qualified under IC4A standards.
Cornell was also represented at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games by senior runners Jimmy Wyner, Andy Miller and Andrew Levy.
The seniors showed promise for the Championship season by turning in spectacular times. Wyner placed third in a race decided by half a second, yet the time was good enough to set the new mark for No. 2 (4:01.67) on Cornell’s all-time list for the mile.
Classmate Miller took seventh in Boston, but the time was good enough for No. 4 (4:04.64) on the Red’s all-time list. Levy qualified for the IC4A by placing third in the 800-m.
The women’s team only competed in College Station this past weekend, taking third behind SEC powerhouse Auburn and host Penn State. Going into the final events Cornell was ahead of Auburn, yet the Tigers prevailed after strong performances from its jumpers and 4 x 400 relay runners. Nonetheless, Cornell established itself as a team deserving of national respect.
“If they continue to do that and they do it against all comers, whether they’re from a national championship team [or not], if you get out and get after it when it’s your turn, then you’ll probably move ahead” said head coach Lou Duesing. “If you kind of play games with it then you might move ahead, but you’re not going to move as far ahead. I really like the fact that people didn’t shy away from competition and didn’t suffer from the WOW factor.”
Two event wins were the highlight for the women’s team this weekend. In the 5000-m, senior Fiona Cundy ran a personal best (17:14.39 seconds) and took first in a sweep of the podium. Freshman Molly Glantz is now No. 1 (1:34.10) in the Cornell freshman record books after her first-place win in the 600-m. College Station featured a tough crowd of 60-m competitors, yet senior Jeomi Maduka managed to take second in the final, and freshman Krystal Williams performed well despite tweaking her hamstring earlier in the 200-m.